The Ugly Game

October 1, 2015

In 2010, FIFA (the Federation Internationale de Football Association) awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, a small, oil-rich nation with no soccer stadiums or soccer history--a decision that shocked sports fans. Rumors and accusations of bribery and enormous payoffs flew throughout soccer, and all signs pointed to corruption at the highest levels of FIFA. Iron-fisted president Joseph "Sepp" Blatter naturally denied any wrongdoing but when two members of the London-based Sunday Times insight team gained access to millions of FIFA documents, the ugly truth came out--the organizataion and its officials were guilty of the worst kind of corruption. Under the byline of coauthors Blake and Calvert, the Times began publishing the sad story in June 2014. In a narrative that at times reads like a spy novel, the authors lay out the entire scheme, focusing on Qatari billionaire Mohammed bin Hammam, the supreme fixer behind the sweeping scandal. VERDICT Although its vast litany of names creates confusion on occasion, this complex account of corruption is precisely detailed. Soccer's shame is the reader's gain as Blake and Calvert write an engrossing expose.--Boyd Childress, formerly with Auburn Univ. Libs., AL

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